Girl Scout Cookie Pairing 2022

It's Girl Scout cookie time and that can mean only one thing: our annual cookies and beer pairing at The BeerMongers. In keeping with tradition Chris procured the cookies and we set a date to see what kind of pairing magic we could make happen.

As has been the case in recent years, the Girl Scouts introduced a new cookie this year. Called Adventurefuls, it's described as an "indulgent brownie-inspired cookie topped with caramel flavored creme with a hint of sea salt." In our expert opinion, this cookie was disappointing both in overall flavor and the fact that even though it is supposed to be brownie-inspired, it is a crunchy cookie. Indulgent brownies are not crunchy ever. Flavor-wise, it missed the indulgent mark as well and as such, the most successful pairings were ones that overpowered the flavor of the cookie.

The beers that we found the most success with were all boldly flavored beers that were actually quite different from one another. Early in the game Mag couldn't resist the pull of the cute mini-cans of Harviestoun Ola Dubh 18 Year Special Reserve. The 8.4-ounce cans of "black oil" imperial porter aged in Highland Park whisky casks clock in at a moderate 8% ABV. Kris particularly loved it paired with the S'mores cookies and would have happily grabbed a couple of cans and a box of the cookies to enjoy in the corner by herself. Mag took a chance and found an unexpectedly delicious pairing of it with the Lemon-Ups.

Although we all agree that Thin Mints are one of the great classic of the Girl Scout cookies lineup, they can be challenging to pair. Looking back at previous pairings, we've found nearly as many beers that worked with them as those that didn't, including Oskar Blues Ten Fiddy in which one vintage worked and another didn't. Ola Dubh goes down in the "works" side of things, having enough body to balance the mint of the cookie.

Knowing that we've had a fair amount of success with fruit-forward beers, Chris grabbed a can of Energy City Bistro Raspberry & Blackberry Crumble. The Berliner-style Weisse beer out of Batavia, IL is made with blackberries, cinnamon and brown sugar added after fermentation. It went very well with the majority of the cookies, including Do-si-does (oatmeal sandwich cookies with peanut butter filling) where it was reminiscent of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. With the Samoas, whose coconut can sometimes be problematic to pair, it took our tastebuds to the land of a rhubarb crumble just like grandma made.

Another beer that paired well was Schloss Eggenberg Samichlaus Classic triplebock. The Austria import is a big one (14% ABV) that is only brewed once per year (on December 6) and is then aged for 10 months before bottling, or in the case of things today, canning. Due to its powerful flavor it did overpower some of the cookies but where it worked, it WORKED! 

One of those was Do-si-does and another was with S'mores, where the beer became slightly more bitter, but in a good way, when enjoyed with the cookies. Kris and Chris were split on it's ability to pair with Samoas with Kris enjoying it thoroughly where Chris was set against it.

As the years of these pairings have gone by we have realized that the limiting factor isn't our imagination or interest in continuing to test beer and cookie combos out but by how much sugar we can handle before we throw in the towel. Nevertheless, it's a yearly game that's anticipated and enjoyed in the moment. It's just a good thing that Girl Scout cookie time comes around only once per year. 

So until next year, support your local Girl Scout and buy some cookies. Maybe give some pairings a try yourself or just toss a few sleeves of Thin Mints deep into the freezer for later enjoyment.

Girl Scout Cookie Pairing 2021

We're still here even though it's been quite some time since the last post. And even though the pandemic may have cancelled a lot of things, it didn't cancel Girl Scout cookie season and our annual beer pairing. Per usual, Chris sourced the cookies. Then he graciously divvied them up for a COVID-safe handoff/tasting last Saturday at The BeerMongers. We both started with a draft of StormBreaker Brewing Eagle Fang All-Valley style (shout out to SB for the awesome Cobra Kai reference). We agreed that the moderately hopped IPA was a nice pairing with Lemon Ups cookies that enhanced the hop flavor.

 

After the IPA, Chris took his Girl Scout cookie pairing down a dark, delicious alley with Oskar Blues Brewery 2019 Ten Fiddy. Here he found one of the new cookies for this year, French Toast, to be a great pairing. The cinnamon in the cookie was just the right amount, steering clear of being weird with the complexity of the beer. Also tasty were the chocolate and peanut butter Tagalongs. Last, and possibly best, were the S'mores. If you haven't had these sandwich cookies they provide a surprisingly facsimile of what actual s'mores taste like without the work of building a fire and toasting marshmallows.

 

Next up Chris went another completely different direction with Double Nickel Dot Matrix kettle sour blackberry and raspberry. He found it paired nicely with the gluten-free (not that there's anything wrong with that) Toffee-tastic and I enjoyed it with the new-this-year Toast-yay! French toast-inspired cookie as well as Lemon-ups. We both agreed that the standout pairing was the Thin Mints. One of the OG cookies, it was like putting mint and raspberry in lemonade.

 

The Girl Scout cookie pairing continued with Baerlic Brewing Co. Sundowner Black Lager. While it didn't work with the Thin Mints, it provided balance to: the Toast-yay! (offsetting the sweetness), the Samoas (especially for those who are not coconut fans) and the Lemon-up (dark to the citrus flavor).

 

Two beers that were more challenging to pair with the Girl Scout cookies were Little Beast Brewing Tiger Team IPA and Block 15 Brewing Co. Ridgeback Red. Not ones to back down from a challenge, Chris found a match for Tiger Team with Lemon-ups, the lemon really popping out. And I decided that the creamy peanut butter and chocolate flavors of the Tagalongs were copacetic with the Ridgeback Red. The abbreviated pairing, while maybe not ideal for "scientific" purposes certainly produced less of a sugar hangover than we've subjected ourselves to in previous years.

Girl Scout Cookies & Beer - Year Six

It’s that time of year again and if you haven’t seen them hawking their sugary treats around town or been asked by a friend or relative to buy them then clearly you’ve been living under a rock. Since Chris’ niece was once again selling them, he was once again buying a box of each variety available. Apparently the beer gods looked favorably upon us because we were able to sit down for our annual pairing foray less than a week after the cookies arrived. 

In advance of gathering at our local we perused past years’ pairing posts to see what beers had worked with what cookies, keeping a particular eye out for the unexpected pairs like Do-Si-Dos (peanut butter sandwich cookies) and Bell’s Winter White (Belgian style) or Samoas (coconuty) with Baerlic What the Fluff (hazy IPA). Referencing that information aided some of our decision making while the rest was left to our palates’ preferences and what shiny new things were available this year.

Block 15 Breakfast with Woodford
Our friend Paul brought this treat from his collection and overall the big, boozy stout brewed with maple syrup was a hit both on its own and with many of the cookies. With Toffee-tastic, the gluten free cookie that we were quite happy to see return this year, the pairing took on the flavor profile of French toast. The cookie provided a brioche-like base with its toffee bits playing off the maple syrup notes in the beer. Not surprisingly the rich coconuty Samoas made for a very decadent pairing. Thin Mints, for all of their perceived easy pairing with big, dark beers, have often not been as compatible as we had hoped however here the beer brought the mint to the forefront, making it pop in a deliciously sharp way.

Stone Xocoveza 
A favorite beer of Caren’s, this imperial stout was brewed to have a flavor profile similar to that of Mexican hot chocolate - deep with a balanced spiciness. As with the Block 15, it worked well with many of the cookies but particularly well with S’mores. This sandwich cookie not only does a great job of smelling like a s’more but also tasting like it and when paired with this beer the marshmallow flavor became enhanced to the point of almost reaching coconut.

Trap Door Mango Lassi
We’ve been impressed with Trap Door’s beers in general however none of us were particularly enamored by this sour/gose, that is until we had some cookie in our mouth at the same time. A tropical take on the traditional peanut butter and jelly sandwich resulted from pairing it with the Do-Si-Dos and the bright fruit helped to lighten up the chocolate covered peanut butter goodness of the Tagalongs. That light fruitiness also worked well to balance the overt sweetness of the S’mores cookie.

Tieton Cider Works Apricot
While we have primarily stuck to beer pairings, we have occasionally cracked open a cider and often found a compatible cookie for it. This year we tried out an apricot cider, agreeing that it was enjoyable on its own, and found its best mate in the tried and true Trefoils (aka Shortbread). The cookie’s butteriness held strong with a pleasant contribution of bright fruit from the cider. For a lighter pairing, the Savannah Smiles lemon cookie hit the mark.

Great Divide Orabelle
This Belgian-style ale “with spices” is in the same family as the Bell’s Winter White we mentioned previously. Similar to it, it’s not a beer we find particularly enjoyable on its own but we did find a pairing that redeemed the beer - the super sweet Samoas. The beer did its part to balance the cookie’s sweetness while the cookie transformed the beer into something that we quite enjoyed. 

Ex Novo Wooden Teeth
Another big, dark beer, this 13.4% ABV whiskey barrel-aged wee heavy ale also found a friend in the Samoas, here being decadent instead of being lightened. For being a "controversial" cookie (depending on your feeling about coconut) this year it turned out to be one of the most versatile and successfully paired cookies.

Thanks to all the friends that joined us, our local and the beertender on staff for making this another fun and palate-informing outing! 

Beer & Girl Scout Cookies Pairing Year 5

Our annual sugar fest in which we support the Girl Scouts and use as an excuse to play with beer happened Sunday. Last year we split the event into two separate days since we were able to get our hands on some out-of-state offerings and while that was fun, what we have access to here is more than enough to put us into sugar shock.

Here was our lineup:
- Do-Si-Dos (aka Peanut Butter Sandwich)
- Samoas (aka Caramel De-Lites)
- Savannah Smiles
- Shortbreads (aka Trefoils)
- S'mores (the non-vegan graham cracker sandwich version)
- Tagalongs (aka Peanut Butter Patties)
- Thin Mints
- Toffee-Tastic (gluten-free)

Per our usual we gathered at our favorite watering hole (which by the way was just named as Oregon's favorite beer bar by Craftbeer.com's readers), opened all the boxes and started hitting the coolers to pull out beers to pair with the cookies.

First up was Chris' pick of Berried at Sea from Pelican, their Tsunami Stout that was aged in oak barrels with blackberries and currants to re-ferment. Along the lines of a sour stout, the acidic profile somewhat distracted from the overall profile of the beer. Nonetheless, it found a peanut butter partner to its "jelliness" in the Do-Si-Dos and Tagalongs. Going a lighter route it created an acid-expected berry lemonade flavor with the Savannah Smiles, which we've agreed is The Best Beer Cookie (more on that below).

Another beer that made fast friends with the two peanut butter cookies was Fort George From Astoria with Love, the Russian Imperial Stout is the base beer for all of Fort George's Matryoshka variants. Mag was impressed by Do-Si-Do's ability to hold its own against the 9.4% beer while Kris would be happy to sit down with a box and a few cans to fully indulge in the rich pairing. Speaking of decadent pairings, Left Hand Wake Up Dead Russian Imperial Stout made for a great one with the other peanut butter cookie, Tagalongs. For a more complimentary pairing to the Do-Si-Do's, reach for Crooked Stave St. Bretta. Now available in 12oz cans, the beer pleasantly lightened the richness of the cookie while the cookie brought to the forefront more of the dryness in this Saison.

Samoas, historically a difficult cookie to pair due to the coconut and over the top sweetness, found many beer friends this time around.
- Falling Sky Juniper Rye became more malty, in a very pleasant way
- Boulevard Rye on Rye, a rye-heavy beer on its own, was moderated and made more enjoyable
- Baerlic What the Fluff NE-style IPA accentuated the saltiness of the cookie while toning down its sugar forwardness
- Evil Twin B is for Blueberry brought the chocolate component in the cookie to prominence
- Left Hand Nitro Bittersweet found its only cookie buddy here

Falling Sky Juniper Rye, Boulevard Rye on Rye and Baerlic What The Fluff also paired well with the S'mores graham cracker sandwich cookies. So, too, did pFriem Cognac barrel-aged Belgian Style Dark Ale. The 10.3% beer was well balanced between its booziness and its Belgian characteristics.

Toffee-Tastic, the Girl Scout's gluten-free offering, is a cookie that has surprised us from day one both with its flavor and texture as well as its ability to pair well with beer. This year our favorite beer we paired it with was pFriem Cognac which accentuated the rich butteryness of the cookie. For those who prefer to have that buttery quality tempered, we suggest going with Crooked Stave St. Bretta.

Thin Mints, one of the staples of the Girl Scout cookie line up, have typically been most successfully paired with stouts and that trend continued this year when paired with Left Hand Wake Up Dead Russian Imperial Stout. The boozy beer balanced nicely with the cookie's minty profile. Shortbreads were another cookie we'd paired often enough that we didn't dive too deep into that well but found Pelican Berried at Sea, especially once it had warmed, made for a nice companion.

Thanks to our Sunday Monger, David, for keeping an eye on us.

Saving the best for last, our picks for the top beers to pair with The Best Beer Cookie, the lemony, powdered sugar coated, crescent shaped Savannah Smiles.
- Pelican Berried at Sea, as mentioned above
- Evil Twin B is for Blueberry for a lighter version of the Berried at Sea pairing
- Little Beast Tree Spirit for a trip down the cherry lemonade path
- Baerlic What the Fluff's hoppiness for a pairing that brings out the lemon even further in the cookies
- Crooked Stave St. Bretta for the cookie to accentuate the lemon-citrus notes of the beer
- Falling Sky Juniper Rye for a surprising pairing where the cookie brought out the malty qualities in the beer and increased its drinkability (for our group)

Beer is tasty, beer is fun, beer is better with friends. We're already brainstorming on our next beer and [something] pairing. If you have ideas for what you'd like us to play with, leave it in the comments.

Beer & Girl Scout Cookies Pairing Year IV

It's hard to believe we've been playing this annual game which is part helping the Girl Scouts out and part adult play. But here we are and once again we've stepped up the game, taking what we've learned to make the pairings more successful, more fun and since we're not kids, more adult-gut friendly.

This year there are some two vegan cookies being made that through our network we were able to get our hands on. That's cool but that also means more cookies to try so in order to avoid total sugar shock we split the pairing into two sessions, the first of which recently happened and the second of which will take place later today. Because what else would you eat on Pi Day but cookies?

Part I Cookies
- S'Mores regular
- S'Mores vegan
- Savannah Smiles
- Lemonades (vegan)
- Shortbreads aka Trefoils
- Thanks-A-Lot

Both versions of the S'Mores cookies are new to the GS cookie line up this year and while both are s'mores-y they are very different cookies. The non-vegan version is a graham cracker sandwich cookie with chocolate and marshmallow filling that has almost an almond flavor. Perhaps one of the best as a stand alone, we found that it paired exceptionally with Alaskan Smoked Porter (which we had opened to pair with another cookie). The beer's smokiness completed the campfire package that the cookie started.

The vegan S'mores also starts with a graham cracker cookie but diverges from there, being twice dipped in crème icing before being covered in chocolate. One of the Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine suggestions (the base that we chose to work from this year) was Cascade Kriek Ale and while that is a local option, it's a 750ml bottle and knowing how many beers we were going to be opening, even with our group, we tried to steer our selections to smaller 12-16oz options. Ommegang Rosetta (thanks, Robby!) fit the size preference and its flavor profile is similar, if perhaps with a bit less tart bite than the Kriek. This may have been a blessing in disguise as the cherry-juice like profile combined with these cookies to taste just like chocolate covered cherries - outstanding!!

The next most chocolaty cookie of this group is Thanks-A-Lot which isn't listed as being new but we don't recall having before (maybe it wasn't in our market last year). A fairly large, thin shortbread cookie with one side dunked in chocolate fudge, the chocolate component allowed it to pair well with Alaskan Smoked Porter, Ommegang Rosetta and Founders Dirty Bastard (again, an bottle opened with another cookie in mind). We also chose one of the CBBM suggestions - Sixpoint Resin - which at least a couple in our group have little love for on its own. But, hey, we've had plenty of beers that we didn't particularly enjoy on their own be great when paired with the right thing so we were hopeful this would be the case. IT. WAS. NOT. The incredible bitterness of the beer was increased by the cookie to the point where it was like chewing on an aspirin. Ick. Perhaps an imperial IPA - the overall suggestion - with a sweeter profile would work better but if you want to play it safe, go with beers that work with the chocolaty-ness.

Since we've now mentioned two beers that we opened with another cookie in mind, let's talk about it - the Shortbread/Trefoil. This cookie has probably been around as long as Thin Mints so no doubt you've tried its buttery goodness. Both the Alaskan and a barrel-aged version of the Founders were suggested for this cookie and we'll agree that they both work. The maltiness of Founder Dirty Bastard compliments and is complimented by the heavy butteryness of the cookie and the Alaskan's strong smoky flavor easily stands up to the cookie's richness.

Moving to the lighter, lemony cookies - the Savannah Smiles that we found a great pairing with last year (thanks, Chris!) and the new-to-us, vegan Lemonades. That great beer is Saison DuPont and although we still enjoyed it with the powdered sugar covered Savannah Smiles, it paired even better with the lemon iced shortbread Lemonades. Another beer that worked well with both was Culmination Peche, especially if you enjoy a bright tartness. Those looking for a sweeter fruit pairing might prefer Founders Rubaeus, a beer that was all around yummy with the Smiles and one whose slight tartness served to balance the Lemonades' icing sweetness. Going in a completely different direction, but taking the CBBM suggestion for the Lemonades, we cracked open Lagunitas Citrusinesis Pale Ale. Its citrus components, the zestiness complimented the Lemonades but really shined bright with the Smiles where witbiers and mieres de miel had been suggested.

With six cookies tackled in that session, that leaves five more - Thin Mints, Toffee-tastic, Do-Si-Dos, Samoas and Tagalongs - for part two which is going to happen later today. So while you enjoy your pie, we'll be slaving away on the cookies. Check back to see, for better or worse, what we discover.

Beer & Girl Scout Cookies Pairing Year III

This third year of pairing Girl Scout cookies with beer was definitely the most successful yet. Using what we'd learned in the past - primarily that stouts work well with many of the cookies, as does Lindemans Framboise, and that Samoas will be the most difficult to pair - we delved in again this past weekend.

 

 

One change this year is that the Girl Scouts now offer a gluten free cookie called Toffee-tastic. We figured that was as good as any place to start and to stay with the gluten free theme chose Ground Breaker Olallie, a blackberry rose hip ale. The cookies are a crumbly shortbread, larger in width and thickness than any other of the cookies, and received two thumbs up from our group of gluten-lovers. Unfortunately our choice of beer wasn't successful and it was agreed that a porter would work better with the toffee flavor. Tabling the cookie, we forged ahead.

With the intent to play off the success we'd found with Lindemans Framboise we chose a bottle from Minnesota brewery Brau Brothers that we'd received from a friend. Barrel & Bog, a dark ale brewed with cranberries and soured in oak barrels, turned out to be tart and dry, pairing wonderfully with Savannah Smiles. The lemon cookies proved to be one of the easiest to pair in the past but this beer really made the lemon flavor pop. A second, and more widely available beer, Saison dupont also was outstanding with the Smiles. Not a particular favorite of mine on its own as it's a Belgian farmhouse, Chris was spot on with this choice.

Another beer that I do not enjoy on its own is Bell's Winter White. Not usually available in the Portland market Bell's products have been brought in on a limited time basis and that timing turned out to be perfect for this pairing event. Not only did it pair well with the Trefoils (shortbreads) and Do-si-dos (peanut butter sandwich cookies) but it worked with the difficult-to-pair Samoas. It seems that the coconut is what makes the Samoas a challenge, particularly for Chris who simply doesn't like coconut, but in this pairing he found a way to enjoy the cookie and I found a way to enjoy the beer.

Moving along to darker beers and what we anticipated to be more successful in pairings we popped Off Color Dino S'mores (RIS), 21st Amendment Lower Da Boom (barleywine) and Stone Americano (espresso). It was here that we found a beer that matched well with the gluten-free Toffee-tastic in Lower Da Boom. The high ABV is obvious in the beer, making it one I generally wouldn't drink much of but if I did want to get smashed, I'd grab a few cans of it and a box of Tagalongs (chocolate-covered peanut butter cookies) as they mellowed the alcohol bite with their creamy goodness. On the flip side, when paired with the addictive Thin Mints the alcohol bite became more pronounced. Also take heed of Mag's warning regarding the Savannah Smiles: "NO - not with the lemon!"

Dino S'mores, as one might expect, completely dominated the mild Trefoils, but unexpectedly and conversely was drowned out by the peanut butter of the Tagalongs. It did however work well with the Do-si-dos and provided a nice compliment to the Samoas, with flavors that that were along the same vein but different enough not to be blah together.

The lightest of the three, Stone Americano, offered a pronounced coffee flavor that was accentuated by the Do-si-dos (yum!!) and played well enough with the Thin Mints, Trefoils and Samoas, making it perhaps the most successful beer of the day. The mild, buttery Trefoils, the bright, lemony Savannah Smiles and the oatmeal-peanut butter Do-si-dos seemed to be the most agreeable cookies to pair beer with. The latter found its "jelly" with the gluten-free Olallie, similar to what we'd found with Lindemans Framboise last year. All in all it was once again a different twist on enjoying our most favorite of beverages.

Pairing Girl Scout Cookes & Beer: 2015 Edition

After taking a hiatus in 2014 and propelled by a friend's niece selling Girl Scout cookies, I got back on the cookies and beer pairing horse with some friends over the weekend. This time around we used this article as a starting point for our pairings, using the specific beers suggested when possible; the rest of the time selecting beers we felt had similar flavor profiles.

The short version of the experiment was that we weren't in agreement with the article about many of the pairings and the beer that worked the best with the greatest number of cookies was Lindemans Framboise. While it makes sense from the perspective of it having a strong fruit flavor it was surprising that this very sweet beer and the sweetness of the cookies actually worked instead of just being an instant sugar high leading into a sugar coma.

• With the Savannah Smiles it was like eating a lemon cake topped with fresh berries; a pretty good transformation of these powdered sugar triangles.
• Drinking it with the Tagalongs, the chocolate-covered peanut butter patties, the fruitiness got along with both flavors better than suspected.
• Hands down though the cookie that it went best with and we all agreed was the best pairing of the night was with the Do-Si-Dos. Here the peanut butter sandwich cookies played the roll of the bread and peanut butter with the beer playing the roll of the jelly for the greatest not-pb&j you'll ever have.

The most difficult cookie to pair with anything was the Thin Mints. We didn't have access to any of the suggested beers but felt the style recommended, stout, was the correct path. Block 15 Interstellar Darkness was on tap and one we thought would work well with a number of the cookies. It was really close to working with the Thin Mints but it just couldn't to seal the deal. What did work was Oskar Blues Ten Fidy. This is a beer either you love all 10.5% of it or one that just the pour into the glass looks too much like actual motor oil for you to fathom drinking. If you fall in the former camp, grab a can and a sleeve of Thin Mints.

For as much as none of us were impressed with it on its own, the Savannah Smiles was probably the most agreeable cookie of the pairing. We kicked off the experiment with them and St. Bernadus Wit, chosen by Chris as a substitution for the WestBrook White Thai/Jester King Biere de Miel that were suggested. The mildly flavored, low ABV wit played well with the lemony cookies. Later on one of us got the idea to try an IPA with it. As it turned out Lost Coast Sharkinator, a hoppy white IPA, made for a nice pairing as well. And of course, as previously mentioned it was a slam dunk with the Framboise.

Right now you can't throw a stone without hitting a Girl Scout selling cookies and whether or not you really want them you'll probably end up with some. So make the best of it and have fun with your beer at the same time.

If you're so inclined, check out my pairing attempts from 2013.

Pairing Samoas

Samoas are one of my favorite Girl Scout cookies so I suppose it's only fitting that they should be the last of the five beer and cookie pairings for me to test out. If you've been following this mini-series you're familiar with the article that I got the idea from. They suggest pairing Samoas with Maui Brewing CoCoNut Porter, a beer I've enjoyed in the past although I can't say I recall the last time I had one.

The beer, brewed and canned on Maui, pours opaque black without much coconut aroma but just the right amount of coconut flavor. It's a subtle coconut flavor, one that doesn't come across as fake and works well against the backdrop of a porter that is neither too sweet nor too thin.

The cookies are very sweet with a trifecta of coconut, caramel and chocolate. Interestingly, something I didn't find with any of the other pairings, was that the cookies brought out the alcohol presence in the beer. It's particularly interesting because the beer is only 6% ABV. Samoas might be a more difficult to pair cookie than I initially thought. I wouldn't go so far as to say this was an unsuccessful pairing just that another beer might work better. Perhaps if I can restrain myself from eating them all I can try them with another beer. Or perhaps I'll pick up a box of these and give it a go.

Pairing Savannah Smiles

I have to start off offering my apologies for having taken such a hiatus from the beer and Girl Scout cookies pairings. I hadn't intended that it would be quite so long but you know how it goes. Sometimes life just gets in the way of what you intended to do. As we resume there are two pairings remaining from the original five. We'll pick things up with Savannah Smiles, described as "crisp, zesty lemon wedge cookies dusted with powdered sugar."

The article suggested a pairing with The Bruery Saison de Lente. The bottle shop didn't have any the day I went to pick up beer so I made the executive decision to go with Boulevard Tank 7 Farmhouse Ale. It's part of their Smokestack series, a series of beers that I've found to be head and shoulders above their other beers. This beer in particular was one that I've had in the past and was very pleasantly surprised with.

The cookies are essentially a light, lemony shortbread and the beer, very effervescent with a mild aroma and crisp, tropical fruit flavor. After a few bites and a few sips I realized that the profiles of the beer and the cookies were very, very similar, almost like the cookies were a slightly sweeter, solid form of the beer. This pairing would make a nice afternoon "tea party" type of treat. There's nothing heavy in either the beer or the cookies and it would be all too easy to eat a whole box while drinking a full 750 ml bottle of the beer.

Pairing Do-si-dos

Confident, but not hopefully overconfident, I decided to diverge from the article's Elvis-inspired pairing for Do-si-dos. They claim peanut butter is a challenging one to pair and suggested with a drier finish beer, Franziskaner Hefe-Weisse Dunkel, due in part to its effervescence and the yeast's banana-like characteristics.

While I'm a fan of peanut butter and banana sandwiches, banana is not something I enjoy in my beer. Using that as a starting point and thinking along the sandwich lines I pondered peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. Then it was down to the "cellar" to search for "jelly." Without many fruit beers to choose from I grabbed a bottle of Block 15 Kriek and crossed my fingers.

The beer all on its own is a stunner with great fruit flavor, not sweet and degree of tartness perfectly dialed in. The cookies, an oatmeal sandwich cookie with peanut butter filling, have plenty of peanut butter flavor. I won't say the two are a perfect match; there may be other fruit beers that would make a better pairing but I was pretty happy with it. I was also bolstered by Mag commenting, "That's good. That's really good." Certainly the effervescence of the beer helped to lighten the heaviness of the peanut butter and oatmeal and with my personal dislike of the banana yeast flavors of a weisse this is a better choice for my palate.

If you haven't been keeping track that's three pairings down, two more to go: Samoas and Savannah Smiles. Stay tuned.

Pairing Thin Mints

Remember how I told you last time that due to my (apparently) poor pairing skills I'd be following the guidelines of the article from here on out? Well...I didn't plan very well...and so...ummm...I guess I'm retracting that statement. Hopefully the results will be better. If not I'm putting a cicerone on retainer.

The article recommended pairing Thin Mints with North Coast Old Stock Ale, an old ale that clocks in at 11% ABV. Having no old ales in my "cellar" but plenty of barleywines I selected Victory Old Horizontal, vintage 2006.

Bringing the bottle to sit out on the counter to warm a bit I noticed a fair amount of "crud" at the bottom of the bottle. I don't mind crud but I was glad this one needed to warm so it could also still.

When poured the beer had little carbonation, typical of the style, but wasn't overly boozy either in the aroma or the flavor as barleywines can often be. Maybe it was a few years ago but at seven years old it was mellow and pleasing. Even better, it didn't overpower the cookie, nor did the mint flavor in the cookie clash with the beer.

Although it was probably more dumb luck than anything else I say this brings me even in my pairing attempts. Hopefully this doesn't go to my head and lead me to screw up the next one. Tune in later to find out.

Pairing Trefoils

The five boxes of Girl Scout cookies in the kitchen have started their tempting whispers. Unable to wait to find a time to sit down and try all five paired with beers at once I decided to start the experiment one by one.

According to the article that sparked my interest in this particular pairing pursuit, Trefoils (or those old enough to remember when the un-fancy name of Shortbreads was sufficient) are the easiest to pair, "because they are lightly flavored, [and] pair well with pretty much any beer of your choosing." While Mr. Agnew suggested Lindemans Peche or a Munich Helles I didn't find either of them in my beer stash. However I'd been eager to open my bottle of Logsdon Peche 'n' Brett so I thought, why not?

The answer to "why not" is because I'm not skilled in the art of pairing. This wasn't the most horrible pairing ever but the delicious Brett quality of the beer wasn't complimented by the cookies nor was the flavor of the cookies enhanced by the beer.

Undeterred I attempted another pairing, this time with the remainder of the bottle of Cigar City Jai Alai Aged on White Oak that I opened the night before. I love the beer on its own and low and behold, it worked. The bite of the hops and dryness of oak cut through the richness of the cookie imploring me to take another bite while the richness of the cookie told me to have another sip of the beer. A delicious, vicious circle that only came to an end when my glass and the bottle were empty. And then I ate another cookie. Just because.

Seeing as how the Trefoils were the "easiest" to pair, I'll be making a trip to the bottle shop before opening the next box. If the rest of the Trefoils haven't disappeared perhaps I'll pick up a bottle of Lindeman's or a Helles.